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Current Summary of Breastfeeding Legislation in the U.S.
SUMMARY OF ENACTED BREASTFEEDING LEGISLATION
NEVADA
Nevada has enacted a law that specifically sets forth
the importance of breastfeeding, and clarifies that women have a right to breastfeed their children
in public, even if there is exposure of the breast. It also clarifies that breastfeeding is not an
indecent or criminal act.
Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 201.210, § 201.220,
§ 201.232
1995 Nev. ALS 105; 1995 Nev. Stat. 105; 1995 Nev. Ch. 105; 1995 Nev. SB 317
§ 201.232. Breast feeding: Legislative intent;
authorized in any public or private location where mother is authorized to be
1. The legislature finds and declares that:
(a) The medical profession in the United States recommends
that children from birth to the age of 1 year should be breast fed, unless under particular
circumstances it is medically inadvisable.
(b) Despite the recommendation of the medical profession,
statistics reveal a declining percentage of mothers who are choosing to breast feed their
babies.
(c) Many new mothers are now choosing to use formula rather
than to breast feed even before they leave the hospital, and only a small percentage of all
mothers are still breast feeding when their babies are 6 months old.
(d) In addition to the benefit of improving bonding between
mothers and their babies, breast feeding offers better nutrition, digestion and immunity for
babies than does formula feeding, and it may increase the intelligence quotient of a child. Babies
who are breast fed have lower rates of death, meningitis, childhood leukemia and other cancers,
diabetes, respiratory illnesses, bacterial and viral infections, diarrheal diseases, otitis media,
allergies, obesity and developmental delays.
(e) Breast feeding also provides significant benefits to the
health of the mother, including protection against breast cancer and other cancers, osteoporosis
and infections of the urinary tract. The incidence of breast cancer in the United States might
be reduced by 25 percent if every woman breast fed all her children until they reached the age
of 2 years.
(f) The World Health Organization and the United Nations
Children's Fund have established as one of their major goals for the decade the encouragement of
breast feeding.
(g) The social constraints of modern society weigh against
the choice of breast feeding and lead new mothers with demanding time schedules to opt for formula
feeding to avoid embarrassment, social ostracism or criminal prosecution.
(h) Any genuine promotion of family values should encourage
public acceptance of this most basic act of nurture between a mother and her baby, and no mother
should be made to feel incriminated or socially ostracized for breast feeding her child.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a mother may breast feed her
child in any public or private location where the mother is otherwise authorized to be,
irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother's breast is uncovered during or incidental to
the breast feeding.
Nev. Rev. State. § 201.210
1. A person who commits any act of open or gross lewdness is guilty:
(a) For the first offense, of a gross misdemeanor.
(b) For any subsequent offense, of a category D felony and shall be
punished as provided in NRS 193.130.
2. For the purposes of this section, the breast feeding of a child by the mother of the
child does not constitute an act of open or gross lewdness.
Nev. Rev. State. § 201.220
1. A person who makes any open and indecent or obscene exposure of his person, or of the
person of another, is guilty:
(a) For the first offense, of a gross misdemeanor.
(b) For any subsequent offense, of a category D felony and shall be
punished as provided in NRS 193.130
2. For the purposes of this section, the breast feeding of a child by the mother of the
child does not constitute an act of open and indecent or obscene exposure of her body.
Last updated Saturday, July 29, 2006 2:25 AM by sjs.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:33:17 UTC 2007.
